Burning Sky

Chapter 4

Their eyes met and for a moment, neither said anything.

Sora stared into Drake's black eyes trying to fight back the fear that was taking control over her once more. It can't be a coincidence. The thought crept into her mind before she could shut it out.

Drake broke the gaze first. "Nice dog," he said, so naturally that Sora felt annoyed but managed to mumble a thank you.

"I hope I didn't scare you much," he went on.

Sora grew more irritated with his mundane comments. "Scared? Who me? It'd take much more to scare me." She forced a smug smile.

He traced his eyes up and down her figure before finally resting his gaze on the vase she was still holding. Sora looked down as her cheeks flamed red. She quickly placed the vase on top of the kitchen table. "I was just bringing it back to its rightful place." The explanation felt ridiculous, but she didn't want to admit how terrified she was just a moment ago.

In fact she still was.

She sneaked another peek at his black eyes and immediately felt thoughts of fear crawling back into her head.

"You are in my class, right?" His attempt at friendly chit chat put her at ease. If he was going to harm her, he would have done so by now. Or perhaps he is just a very good actor and he is hiding a chainsaw behind his back, she thought and laughed at her own stupidity. Hanging out with Katie sure brought her paranoid side to the surface more.

Unable to gain control of her thoughts or her speech, she opted to just nod.

"You sit right behind me," he continued with a friendly smile, seemingly unaware of her distress.

Sora noticed Kiba sitting next to the stranger completely unfazed by his presence. Traitor, she thought as she willed her thoughts to penetrate into Kiba's conscience, but of course, with no result. She finally decided to trust her dog's instincts, they were usually much better than her own. "My name is Sora," she said extending her hand, a faint smile finally made its way on her lips.

His smile grew bigger, finally reaching his black eyes. "Drake," he replied as he shook her hand. "You have a very unique..." He didn't finish his sentence because as his skin touched Sora's, a jolt of electricity shot between them, and they both drew back their hands in alarm.

Sora rubbed her numb fingers on her jeans. "I hate when that happens," she murmured. Static electricity always made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

She glanced at Drake and noticed he looked confused. She reached to reassuringly touch his shoulder, but he pulled back. When he lifted his eyes to meet hers, she realized that it wasn't just confusion she saw but fear and anger too. "You," he mouthed barely audible.

Now, she was back to being scared.

"I have to go," he said, and before she could answer, he was already out the back door.

Sora sighed heavily and sat down. Kiba nudged closer and rested his head on her lap. She placed her hand on his big muzzle. "I guess he is a psychopath after all."

After a few moments, Sora settled her jittery nerves enough to walk Kiba out to the yard, lock the door and race up to her room, right before her grandparents came home.

She was reading a book when her grandmother knocked on her door. She knew it was her because her grandfather's knock was always rhythmic and playful, probably in secret code, but she never knew for sure. Her grandmother, on the other hand, only knocked once.

"Come in," Sora said and rested the book on her lap.

Her grandmother entered holding a vase in her hands. It was the vase. Sora's eyes widened when she saw it. "Would you mind telling me what this was doing on the kitchen table?"